406 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



PIGNUT 

 Pignut or Broom Hickory; 



Carya glabra (Mill.) Spach. 

 C. porcina Nutt.; Hickoria glabra Britton. 



HABIT A good sized tree, 50-60 ft. in height with a trunk diameter 

 of 2-5 ft.; branches slender, more or less contorted, the lower ones 

 especially usually strongly pendulous, forming a narrow oblong head, 

 well shown in the tree photographed, or broader in other specimens. 



BARK Dark gray, fissured into irregular diamond-shaped areas 

 somewhat suggesting bark of White Ash, but narrow ridges flattened, 

 tough, tending to become detached at ends; sometimes somewhat shaggy 

 especially in one of the varieties mentioned below, which has a bark 

 approaching that of the Shag-bark Hickory. 



TWIGS Comparatively slender for the genus, smooth, reddish- 

 brown, to gray. LENTICELS numerous, longitudinally elongated, more 

 or less conspicuous. PITH obscurely 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, obscurely 3-lobed, 

 heart-shaped to semi-circular or oblong. BUNDLE-SCARS numerous, 

 irregularly scattered or collected in 3 more or less definite groups. 



BUDS Reddish-brown to gray, small, terminal bud under 10 mm. 

 long, oval, blunt or sharp-pointed, becoming subglobose toward spring. 

 BUD-SCALES outer scales dark, smooth or finely downy, generally 

 slightly yellow glandular-dotted, more or less keeled, and sometimes 

 long pointed, often falling before the end of winter and exposing the 

 pale-silky inner scales. 



FRUIT Pear-shaped to oblong to nearly spherical, 3-5 cm. long; very 

 variable in size and shape; husk under 2 mm. thick, hi some forms 

 splitting only at the apex and enclosing the nut after it has fallen 

 to the ground, in other forms splitting to the middle or to the base. 

 NUT thick or rather thin shelled, generally not ridged nor sharp- 

 pointed; seed sweet or sometimes bitter. 



COMPARISONS The Pignut is a very variable species and there are 

 several varieties described, some of which have been recognized as 

 distinct species, as for instance Carya microcarpa Nutt., the Small- 

 fruited Hickory which is perhaps the most conspicuous. It has a 

 somewhat shaggy bark and a nearly spherical fruit with the husk 

 splitting to the base. The most distinctive feature of the whole spe- 

 cies is the small size of the buds, which before the outer dark scales 

 drop off resemble buds of the Shag-bark Hickory except for size, and 

 after these outer scales have been shed may be compared with minia- 

 ture Mockernut buds. Its bark is not smoothed off like that of the 

 Mockernut nor except in extreme cases shaggy like that of the Shag- 

 bark. 



DISTRIBUTION Woods, dry hills and uplands. Niagara peninsula 

 and along Lake Erie; south to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Indian Territory, and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine frequent in the southern corner of 

 York county; New Hampshire common toward the coast and along the 

 lower Merrimac valley; abundant on hills near the Connecticut river, 

 but only occasional above Bellows Falls; Vermont Marsh Hill, Ferris- 

 burgh, W. Castleton and Pownal; Massachusetts common eastward; 

 along the Connecticut river valley and some of the tributary valleys, 

 more common than the Shag-bark; Rhode Island common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional or frequent. 



WOOD Heavy, hard, very strong and tough, flexible, light or dark 

 brown, with thick, lighter colored or often nearly white sapwood; used 

 for the handles of tools and in the manufacture of wagons and agri- 

 cultural implements, and largely for fuel. 



